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My New African-American Studies Course

I presented this course syllabus to my amazing department chair for next year. I am not shocked by her endorsement and full support. I have spent a great deal of time doing the necessary research to make this course happen. Below is a draft proposed syllabus I presented to her; I will edit and address more specifics later about the daily approaches and readings. Because this is a full-blown seminar course, students will drive each meeting. Hence, there will be assigned discussion leaders, peer sessions, and unique focus settings empowering me in ways that my AP courses do not allow. Further, with my content knowledge and expertise in designing courses, I will be able to take students to levels they have yet to journey.

The African American experience spans almost 400 years in the annals of world history. The dawn of the European arrival in Africa to the advent of forced migration across the Atlantic amidst the trepidation of the most noted middle passage is only the start of the African American journey towards political, social, and cultural emancipation. This course looks at the early stages of this journey, in which African Americans will endure slavery, Jim Crow, and full citizenship by the 1960s. In addition, the course addresses the impact this narrative had on the emergence of African American religion, literature, poetry, music, art, dance, food, and science. Works by Ralph Ellison, Countee Culleen, Toni Morrison, and “Nikki” Giovanni, Angela Davis, and Tupac Shakur are a few of the works that are studied. Conversations regarding the Harlem Renaissance, as well as the rise of “black as beautiful” during the 1960s allow students to critique the changes witnessed for African-Americans. This course is a hybrid of the study of English literature, religion, race, history, and film studies, and includes a field trip to the African-American History Museum in Boston.

Course Components
Instructional Method: African-American Studies is a seminar course in which daily discussions involving the analysis of primary and secondary readings, as well as the viewing and listening of African-American film and music. Success in the course is predicated on the student’s ability to engage in the discussions and offer independent thought to the conversation.

Exams, Papers, and Participation: There are two take-home exams per semester. Exams are intended to measure growing knowledge of historical, sociological, and anthropological themes addressed in the course. Students engage in a case study, examining an aspect of their life in which the dynamics of African-American culture is a featured construct of racism, gender, sexuality, and class.

1. When and Where I Enter by Paula Giddings
2. There is a River by Vincent Harding
3. Introduction to African-American Studies by Talmadge Anderson
4. Native Son by Richard Wright
5. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison

Course Outline

I. African Heritage and the Slave Trade
II. The Slave Community: Oppression and Resistance
III. The Free Black Community
IV. Civil War and Reconstruction Period
V. W.E.B Du Bois
VI. The New Negro
VII. Harlem Renaissance
VIII. Great Depression to the Cold War: The Rise of the Communist Negro
IX. Black Folks and the 1950s
X. 1960s and Civil Rights
XI. The Rise of the Cosby Decade
XII. Black Culture and Political Rap
XIII. Changing Black Thought in the Age of Tupac
XIV. Obama and Post-Racial America

Thanks lewisjjackson. Yes, we will be discussing Angela Davis a great deal; we will discuss the the divergent means of her and the likes of Assata Shakur to those of a Diane Nash — who by the way, recently visited our campus for a talk. Thanks for the comment. If you have any other thoughts or things you would like to see, feel free to share. The female voice is large in this course.

Hey, hopefully we will see your African American studies course on an Edx, Coursera or the Udemy MOOC platforms at some point. Now that I think of it, I have not seen any African American studies courses out there. Imagine having 100,000 students pay $5 for such a course within a 60 day window. Not a bad business model!

Reblogged this on Black Boston Blog Service and commented:
If 100,000 MOOC studies, took an African American studies course and paid $5 for it, then the professor would net $500,000 minus minor cost of producing the MOOCified material.

Blogging Since June '06

Professor Carson

The Professor is an academic blog that reflects my teaching and academic interests on race, religion, culture, and politics; it denotes my professional relationships with both colleagues and students, as well as my concerns and passion for the history profession. This blog is not associated with my employer.

Diversity

"People of color, be they African-American, Native American, Asian, Middle Eastern or whatever ethnic group, have spent years discovering their roots, developing a keen pride in their heritage, and accepting who they are. So don’t expect the current crop of prospective faculty to fit into your conservative profile. Many of them will not, and, frankly, I don’t think they should even try! Is that shocking? Is that unacceptable to you and your clientele? Then, perhaps, diversity is really not for you. If a turban or a dashiki pants suit offends, then so will diversity! Diversity by definition implies that the status quo will be upset."